Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 256GB Black 5G

The foldable Samsung Fold 4 is a special smartphone that, thanks to the large screen, works very well when multitasking, reading and watching videos. The device is a lot thicker and heavier than other smartphones. Special smartphone The Fold 4 has a stylish design and feels sturdy, even when opening and closing. Folding the Fold 4 remains special. I open the device like a book, after which I have the screen of a kind of small tablet. The Fold 4 therefore seems suitable for multitasking and entertainment. I have tested how this works in practice. Crease barely visible Beforehand, my biggest question was whether I would see the fold in the screen. My answer? Yes and no. As long as I look straight at the screen, like I do in use, I barely see the crease. From other angles I can clearly see the fold. This really only bothers me when I look at my smartphone from a strange angle. I can feel the crease, but actually my fingers hardly ever reach the center of the screen. So I don't have much of a problem with this either. Getting used to size and weight The Fold 4 is almost twice as heavy and thick as other smartphones. The screen on the front is a bit narrower than I'm used to. As a result, it took a few days before I stopped typing the wrong letters on the keyboard. The open, large screen also takes some getting used to when I type something. Watch videos comfortably The big screen is very comfortable when I read the news or watch a video. I do see black borders on the sides as there are no videos in this aspect ratio. Despite those edges, the videos are larger and therefore more enjoyable than on a regular smartphone. Convenient multitasking I've had many smartphones in my hands, but the Fold 4 is my favorite for multitasking. On the big screen, I can easily open 2 apps at the same time. For example, I process my notes in a presentation without having to switch apps all the time. The taskbar at the bottom is also very useful. This contains my favorite and most recently used apps. Because of this I have always found my email or Instagram quickly. Precise control with S Pen The screen on the inside is suitable for the separately available S Pen stylus. With this S Pen I operate the screen with more precision. This is useful, for example, when I edit a photo, video or presentation. sharp photos I take razor-sharp photos with the 3 cameras on the back. The photos with the selfie camera in the big screen are lower quality. Fortunately, thanks to a handy function, I also take selfies with the cameras on the back. I then see on the screen on the front whether I am correctly in the picture. Battery life depends on usage On days when I use the big screen a lot, the battery often doesn't make it to the end of the day. If I mainly use the Fold 4 for the occasional quick message on the front screen, it lasts all day.

Upgrade compared to Zfold3 is noticeable, especially in the screen ratio, it feels slightly lighter and nicer in the hand. Camera is better than the Zfold3, but not spectacularly better.

On 16/08/2022 I acquired the new Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 at Coolblue for EUR 1,799. I acquired this together with a case direct at purchase and put screen protectors as soon as received. After 4 days of regular use, the inside screen showed two stripes of dead pixels when typing a message on the inside screen. I then sent it for repair to Coolblue who couldn’t find a problem with it and sent it on to Samsung for verification. After a week Samsung sent me that the problem was caused by me and that I should pay EUR 200 to have it repaired. As I knew I did not do anything wrong, I spent an hour on the line with a Samsung rep trying to understand what it was I might have done wrong and they could not give me a concrete answer except for the fact that “the inside screen showed a tear which is potentially caused by the consumer”. When I asked how they could know this is the case with certainty and that it is not potentially cause by their own hinge mechanism, they stated that “this is not something they can verify but that in this case, it will always be categorized as a customer fault and thus not fall under the manufacturer warranty”. I find this a blatant abuse of power and the hurdles to even speak to people responsible for making such decisions are impossible, even after multiple requests with the Samsung rep (“the line is currently very busy, could you try again some other time”, I made clear that I was able to stay on the line as long as it took to which reply was that “the responsible person is not in, please try again later and he might be in” to finally “I can’t help you but call our service partner Dyanfix as they are the ones that gave the verdict” but their phone is completely unreachable). I do not understand how a manufacturer can get away with not providing repair or refunds under their warranty service without the need of concrete evidence or providing proper assistance or explanation. I definitely will never be buying a Samsung again and I hope my experience will make people reconsider the choice to buy this phone that looks awesome, but with a technology that is just not ready for consumer use by a company that is unsupportive towards customers spending an obscene amount of money to try this new “flagship” Coolblue has been a great mediator though and have tried their best to help remedy the situation. Very happy with their help in this awful Samsung experience